50 Favorite Simpsons Episodes (20-11)

The Simpsons have traveled the world over, but New York City has an allure all it own. When Barney has to stay sober one night to be the designated driver, Homer’s car ends up in NYC, forcing him to have to go get it. Homer’s bad experience when he was young has left him paranoid of the Big Apple and it’s hilarious to see how miserable he is while the rest of the family enjoys all the city has to offer. The most memorable scenes, which caused the episode to go unaired for a while, revolve around the World Trade Center - with Homer’s car parked right in the middle. He ultimately drives off over the Washington Bridge while the credits play the theme from New York, New York and city trash, complete with drug paraphernalia, lands all over Homer’s face.

19. El Viaje Misterioso De Nuestro Jomer

A delirious Homer hallucinating off of extremely hot Guatemalan chili peppers leads down all sorts of strange roads. The surreal scenes during Homer’s induced visions aren’t just funny, but very impressive. Homer breaking the sun by making it rise and set is great, as is the space coyote. His behavior gets Marge angry at him though, and Homer questions whether they’re actually soul mates. He goes off in search of his soul mate and Marge finds him, because even though they aren’t that alike they share a deeper connection.

18. Lisa’s Sax

Seems I'm always missing one vid. At least this pic is cute.

Lisa’s Sax is a near flawless episode. It has heart, adds depth to the characters, and is of course very funny. When Lisa’s sax ends up getting crushed, Homer recalls the tale of how she got it since she was too young to remember. It also serves as an origin tale for Bart’s behavior and shows how depressed he was starting school until he found his calling as a prankster. Hearing Bart utter “eat my shorts” for the first time before singing “Buttman” just feels right and so does seeing a young Lisa toot her saxophone for the first time at the expense of a broke, sweaty Homer. In the present, Homer pony’s up the cash once more to buy Lisa a new sax and inscribes it with another heartfelt “d’oh!” on the side.

17. Thirty Minutes Over Tokyo

This is my favorite of all the vacation traveling episodes, especially since I’m looking forward to visiting Japan myself someday. The Simpsons can’t help but have a bit of culture clash anytime they visit a place though. A great scene that exemplifies this is Bart and Homer watching a sumo match and turning it into a tag team wrestling bout. It winds up with them in Japanese jail, which is where they amusingly experience the most Japanese culture; they paint, perform in plays and learning to distrust Americans as foreign devils. They’re left without cash though and have to take part in a Japanese game show that punishes their ignorance and is without an ice cream round. In the end, they win tickets back to America and fly off with Godzilla, Rodan and other monsters seen in the background. Oh yeah, they reference the Pokeseizures as well.

16. The Springfield Files

This X-Files crossover episode finds a drunken Homer wandering into the woods to find what looks like an alien. No one believes Homer at first, since he was drunk, but it does attract the attention of Agents Mulder and Scully. They don’t find any proof, but provide great references to their own show and give us visual gags like a shirtless Homer on a treadmill (so hypnotic). Bart believes Homer, because he seems so damn sure and they manage to capture footage. The second half to this episode is even more surreal as the town discovers a heavily medicated Burns is the one passing for a peaceful alien. He almost goes back to his old ways before Dr. Nick gives him another booster shoot, making him loopy, and causing Springfield’s hive mind to sing in unison into the credits.

15. Stark Raving Dad

Easily one of the greatest guest appearances in the show’s history, Stark Raving Dad features Michael Jackson playing a big fat white guy with no flair who pretends he’s Michael Jackson. Homer, totally oblivious as to who MJ really is meets him at a mental institution and later brings him home. Once again, the Simpsons prove masters of comedy and emotion. Some of the biggest laughs come from the many, many movie references at the institution to films, like One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest, and The King of Pop’s self-aware dialogue, while Lisa’s birthday song ends the episode sweetly.

14. Hurricane Neddy

Up until this point, Ned Flanders was pretty much the perfect neighbor, which reasonably sickens Homer. Ned’s peak on the show is this episode where he’s at his very lowest though. A hurricane blows through Springfield and poor Ned’s house is the only one damaged - totaled, actually. He tries to keep his spirits up and he gets a glimpse of hope when everyone in Springfield gathers to rebuild his home, but the dimwitted town fails miserably and Ned fucking snaps. Having the pious Flanders tell off everyone who crosses his path before being dragged, kicking and screaming, into his mental hospital room is one of the most uproariously cynical things I’ve ever seen in comedy. Finding out that Ned’s beatnik parents are responsible for his inability to show anger normally and getting Homer to annoy him enough to express his feelings are also superb moments.

13. Lisa the Vegetarian

Lisa the Vegetarian is one of the early episodes to really help define the character as one with her own identity. After visiting a petting zoo, Lisa declares herself a vegetarian and goes through many hardships because of it. The episode delivers its message, but delivers countless laughs along the way. There’s plenty of visual gags and quotes to be had, such as Troy McClure’s meat advocacy video, Bart and Homer’s “you don’t win friends with salad” conga line, and the flying pig. Apu, Paul and Linda McCartney wrap up the hilarity with their message of tolerance to Lisa. Rock stars, is there anything they don‘t know?

12. Homer Badman

This is one of the best episodes with absolutely no heart. Homer takes Marge to a candy convention and steals as many sweets as possible, including a gummy Venus de Milo. When it winds up stuck on the baby sitter’s butt, Homer innocently peals it off but is mistaken for a pervert. The next day there’s a full-blown media outrage and everyone is against Homer. The episode is a callous critique of what the media sometimes passes off for journalism. Some of the best moments revolve around the lies told by reporters; an interview Homer gives is clearly edited to make Homer’s obsession about sweet candy sound like he’s saying “sweet can” over and over. Kent Brockman makes up all sorts of stories, such as cat harassment, and Homer having sexual powers. Groundskeeper Willie eventually clears Homer’s name with footage of the gummy incident, but is himself deemed a Peeping Tom by the news program for videotaping people. Homer’s sees the show and declares that Willie’s evil, even knowing that Willie cleared his name, showing how dumb viewers are just as guilty for feeding into these frenzies.

11. Homer at the Bat

I’m not sure if any show has ever delivered a better sports episode than Homer at the Bat. It starts with Homer confidently leading the nuclear plant’s softball team to the championships courtesy of his Wonder Bat. When the game approaches, Burns ensures his victory by hiring professionally baseball players as employees so they can play in the big game. The team of actual employees is crushed, most notably Homer who was the reason that they made it as far as they did, but one by one all of the pros are hilariously incapacitated from playing - except Darryl Strawberry who plays Homer’s position. There’s no better ending for a Simpsons sports episode than Homer pinch hitting for Strawberry and winning the game by being knocked unconscious by the ball. The ending credits song is still one of my favorites as well.

Only 10 more to go! Those are absolute classics. I guarantee it. So I hope you come back tomorrow and relive what Comic Book Guy would call THE BEST Simpsons episodes EVER!